$70 Drone Shield wants to protect you from flying spies

Shane McGlaun, 2nd May 2013

There are quite a lot of people who are seriously concerned about maintaining their privacy in an age where aerial drones - like the Parrot AR - are increasingly easy to build or buy.

Enter the Drone Shield, created by an aerospace engineer who is seeking backing on Indigogo to bring the device to market.

Essentially, the Drone Shield is built around the wildly popular Raspberry Pi, along with a signal processor, microphone and analysis software to scan for specific audio signatures. The Shield is apparently capable of comparing recorded audio signatures against sounds created by known drone aircraft. When the system identifies a specific drone, it alerts the user via e-mail or SMS.

The program is seeking $3,500 in funding and has managed to collect $1,214 so far, with 45 days left to reach its funding goal. Interestingly, the developer of the Drone Shield does acknowledge a few issues with the device, including the fact that smaller drones might not make enough noise to be detected from a distance.

The designer also notes that background noise will reduce the detection distance, while potentially increasing the number of false alarms. Another possible issue? References to homemade or modified drones may not exist in the system's database, which may also have difficulty detecting high-altitude drones.

Interested? DIY enthusiasts can pledge $59 for a box of parts needed to build their own Drone Shields, while $69 buys a fully assembled and ready to use version.